UPDATE 2: More asset arrests planned in Magomedov brothers’ case

(Combines stories, adds details)

MOSCOW, Aug 1 (PRIME) -- More assets of the Magomedov brothers, including those abroad, will soon be arrested under a case against the businessmen, an investigator said on Wednesday during a court hearing.

“Several property arrests are in the pipeline, requests for legal help have been sent,” the investigator said.

He said that the requests were sent to offshore states such as the Bahamas and Cyprus.

On March 31, the Tverskoi District Court of Moscow sanctioned arrest of brothers Ziyavudin and Magomed Magomedov, co-owners of Summa Group, on charges of a 2.5 billion ruble embezzlement. It also arrested Artur Maksidov, CEO of Summa’s construction subsidiary Inteks, on charges of 669 million ruble embezzlement.

Daniil Sidorov, lawyer for several affiliates of Summa, said that the arrests prevented paying salaries to Summa workers since May.

“All commercial activities of the transport group have been blocked, there is no possibility to pay taxes and receive wages. Common people, the dock workers who work 24-hours a day in shifts, have not received wages since May,” the official said.

According to Sidorov, 4,600 workers of Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO) are not paid and a total of 15,000–20,000 people work for Summa group companies where assets are under arrest.

But a FESCO spokesperson told PRIME that the company has no wage arrears. “Concerning the payments to employees, we’ve settled a part of them in advance, taking into account the risks. There is no debt to the FESCO employees.”

On Monday, the court arrested assets and accounts of 24 companies under the case.

An investigator said undisclosed FESCO owners have filed a theft complaint to the Interior Ministry.

“An anonymous claim of FESCO shareholders has been submitted to the investigators office of the Interior Ministry of Russia with information about a theft of the company’s money,” the investigator told reporters without elaborating.

The investigators transferred the claim to the main directorate for fighting economic crimes and corruption, the investigator added